The Computer & Communications Industry Association turns 40 in 2012 and I've been the President & CEO since 1995. After working for both the Commerce and State Department, I chaired and am a current member of the State Department's advisory committee on communications and information freedom. At CCIA we advocate for open markets, open networks and broad policies in Washington that allow, or at least don't block, the next generation of tech entrepreneurs from building on past innovation and bringing their latest product or service out of the garage or dorm room and into the marketplace.

Opposition to legislation that would regulate the Internet, unsettle investors, and add millions in legal costs for tech and telecom companies is growing. The American Taxpayers Union recently expressed skepticism with bills aimed at reducing online copyright infringement (PROTECT IP or PIPA in the Senate and Stopping Online Piracy Act in the House). Conservative think tanks like the Heritage Foundation, CATO Institute and CEI have also come out against these piracy enforcement measures that go too far.

But the momentum to get quick votes on this sweeping legislation is strong as pressure mounts from entertainment lawyers, trial lawyers and a few unions to push these bills to a vote in the Senate and House before the broader public and lawmakers understand what’s at stake. Votes in a few weeks threaten to force the decision before the real costs of SOPA and PIPA for our government, our IT sector, and future innovation, are appreciated.

If these laws were in place, the climate for legitimate start-ups would be chilled. Former startups like Facebook and Youtube could have easily been sued out of existence through the private rights of action granted in the fine print. Existing companies will have to develop monitoring and censorship regimes to avoid liability.

A recent Harvard Business school study, commissioned by my tech trade association reconfirmed that venture capitalist investment in cloud computing flourishes when there is legal certainty about the scope of liability faced by tech companies for what users do on their sites. However, SOPA and PIPA add legal uncertainty as they undermine the current liability protections tech companies now receive in exchange for quickly responding to requests to take down infringing content uploaded by their users.

In these austere times, it’s surprising Congress would be willing to transfer most of the burden of copyright enforcement to taxpayers and our fastest growing industries.

It is also hard to believe that as Congress looks for ways to trim the federal budget, they would instead approve a new program that would cost the federal government at least $453 million up to 2013 according to a cost estimate of only some of the costs by the Congressional Budget Office as the entertainment industry shifts its copyright enforcement costs to the government and other private companies.

What hasn’t been calculated yet is the cost of countless legal hours and distracted management as Congress bestows private rights of action that will require the tech industry to respond to massive nuisance lawsuits from freelance and entertainment industry lawyers. This legislation will certainly be a boon for trial lawyers, who are giving money and lobbying House and Senate Democrats to support the measure.

But let’s just stay with the $453 million known cost to the government for a moment and weigh the costs versus the benefits. In other words, what are the real costs of online infringement. The MPAA and their political network of officials continue to claim costs of $20 billion or more – even after the Government Accountability Office debunked those numbers.

Another key cost-benefit question to calculate is whether PIPA or SOPA would actually stop online piracy and recover some of the alleged $400 million loss. Those who understand how the Internet works and what SOPA and PIPA would actually do, say no and will now be able to tell Congress during a House Government Oversight Committee hearing January 18.

Numerous experts have tried to warn Congress that SOPA and PIPA wouldn’t effectively address the real problem of piracy, but instead would cause substantial collateral economic damage to legitimate companies driving the digital economy. Basically the cure is worse than the disease as this Reuters’ columnist explains . We are, in effect, burning down the house to roast the pig.

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